I just wanna go home.

I got let out of work at Noon on Christmas Eve, filled my car’s tank, and drove up to Maine non-stop. I got to my parents’ house at about 2:15pm…just as my father was about to go see his mother. I said I’d go along as soon as I brought my stuff inside. …but then I found out he also wanted to go to the Auburn Mall, go to church, and do some other errands. Ugh. I told him I was tired from the drive and didn’t want to have to do all that too…but to tell Nana that I’d visit her on the weekend.
It’s a good thing I didn’t go. He was gone for about five hours!

I walked over to my grandmother’s instead and visited with her and my cousins. When Dad got back, he made burgers…but they tasted kinda bland. …and the lettuce for the salad was that “fancy” dark green, limp, leafy kind. I prefer my lettuce to have a crunch. Maybe I’m too picky.

Mom got home from work at about 11:30. I tried to fight the boredom away with IRC or reading Newtype.

Christmas morning, I woke up at 9:30am, looked at my watch, and put my head back on the pillow. I woke up again at 11:30 when my cousins showed up. My parents put out some bad tasting cheese and crackers with a veggie tray…but I found a doughnut and had that instead. After my cousin Mary arrived, we exchanged some presents. I got a Borders gift card and Harry Potter jelly beans from my cousins and a magnetic dart board from my uncle.

After getting a shower, we headed over to their house for food. Ham, potatoes, corn, and stuff. The Wellehans were there and I got socks from them. (…which wasn’t a surprise since they own a few shoe stores and give me dress socks every year, not that I dress up a lot.) The cats were really getting to me after a while.

For dessert, we all moved over next door to my grandmother’s house (yes, my parents, cousins, and grandmother live next to each other) for dessert. She had a chocolate cream pie she got from a local restaurant, but it really wasn’t that great. The chocolate pudding in the middle was closer to gelatin than pudding. It tasted kinda funny.

Before long, my grandmother’s cat was getting to me and I had to step into the garage to breathe. Eventually, I decided to head back to my parents’ house…but since we had arrived, a blizzard had hit and there was about six inches of snow on the ground. I bundled up and ran the 100 yards back to my parents’ house…trying to avoid getting snow inside my hiking sneakers.

Hunting around for some snacks, I eventually found microwave popcorn…but my father flipped out thinking I’d cook it too long and burn the house down or something. I spent the last few hours of the evening watching TV Land and then a few episodes of Trading Spaces.

Having to work today, I set the alarm for 7am. I woke up at 6:15 when my father started the snow blower. With the sound coming from right outside my window, I couldn’t get back to sleep. …and since they have a gravel driveway, the snow blower (which he had never used in this driveway before) was picking up rocks and pelting them all over the place. I could hear some hit the house and feared some might hit my car.

I eventually got on the road at 8:15am, but it was slow going…even on the Maine Turnpike. I ran out of wiper fluid, but stopped at K-Mart in Portsmouth, NH to get some. With a fresh windshield, it was easier to drive…but New Hampshire plows don’t do a good job. I-95 between Maine and Massachusetts sucked. …but after getting past Route 93 on 495, the roads were clear…just wet. I got to the office at 10:45.

There’s hardly anyone here. …and I’m going to lunch now. I’m starving!

December 26, 2002

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